Visual communications systems and techniques, in which images are captured and transmitted via the telecommunications network, have recently become increasingly significant. For example, AT&T has recently introduced its VideoPhone 2000, which attaches to ordinary telephone lines. A real time moving image of the persons using the system is transmitted, along with the verbal conversation. However, the VideoPhone and similar systems are not portable, and must be used either in a fixed location, or in any event near a location in which a connection to the telephone network is available. Also, such systems are relatively expensive.
Another entry in this market, also available from AT&T, is the Picasso still image phone, which is used in conjunction with a conventional video camera and a television receiver. At the transmitting end, a still image from the video camera is captured in the Picasso phone, and then transmitted to the remote Picasso phone, where it is stored and then displayed on a television receiver. This arrangement too is neither portable nor inexpensive.
Yet other image capture and display products are called digital cameras or instant electronic cameras, such as are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,074,324 issued to J. S. Barrett on Feb. 14, 1978. Commercially available digital cameras include the Model 3 available from DYCAM and the Fotoman Plus available from Logitech. With a digital camera, an image is scanned by an internal charge coupled device (CCD), digitized and stored inside the camera. A personal computer is then needed to view, manipulate and store the image. These digital cameras are designed as computer peripherals, specifically, as input devices for computer based applications. No provision is made in digital cameras for remote display of the images.